MOSCOW, June 11. /TASS/. The United States has addressed Russia with a fresh portion of groundless charges it is ostensibly in breach of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force (INF) treaty, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday about the latest US Department of State report regarding the observance of arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament commitments.

The Foreign Ministry said of great concern in the INF context were "the United States’ plans for deploying in Romania and Poland vertical launching systems capable, according to our estimates, of firing Standard-3 interceptor missiles and medium-range cruise missiles Tomahawk."

"Their deployment will be a direct violation of the INF treaty," the Foreign Ministry said.

"Also, certain questions arise why in testing its missile defence weapons the United States uses targets having parameters similar to those of intermediate and shorter range missiles. There are reasons to believe that in this way the United States may be testing a number of aspects of production and combat use of prohibited ballistic missiles," the Foreign Ministry said.

It drew attention to the fact that the attack drones the United States has manufactured for years fall under the INF Treaty’s definition of ground-based cruise missiles, in particular, in view of the specified understanding of the term ‘delivery vehicle’ formalized in the notes the Soviet and US governments exchanged on May 132, 1988.

"Quite noteworthy are statements by Pentagon officials to the effect the United States has been considering options of a military response to Russian ‘violations’, including the possibility of deploying near our borders the intermediate and shorter range missiles outlawed under the INF treaty," the Foreign Ministry said. "It is clear that such action would be tantamount to complete destruction by the United States of the INF treaty’s regimen with all the ensuing consequences.".